In His Sights
by leaptad
Summary: Romance fic between KimEdgerton. Set immediately following Sniper Zero
1. Default Chapter

Author: Alison

Title: In His Sights

Pairings: Edgerton/Kim

Summary: Set immediately following SZ

Rating: T+

Spoilers: Everything up through SZ is fair game

Disclaimer: I own none of this. Characters are the property of the Scott brothers.

Kim fingered the folded piece of paper in her pocket. She hadn't decided what she was going to do about that yet. Foster was telling one of his lame jokes. Kim ignored him and leaned against the bar, sipping her beer.

Everyone was laughing at the punch line. Kim smiled politely. Some people who had been dancing moved and she got a clear look at one of the booths along the back wall. She was surprised by what she saw. Not to appear unsociable, Kim strolled over.

"Hey, Don," she said, standing in front of the table.

"Hey, Kim," Don said.

"Charlie," she said, greeting the younger Eppes sitting across from him.

"Hi," Charlie answered.

"What are you doing here?" Don asked.

"Just having a couple of beers after work," she answered. "You guys?"

"Celebrating," Charlie said.

"We caught the sniper," Don interjected.

"Yeah, I heard about that."

Don reluctantly scooted over in the booth. "Have a seat." Kim sat, although she didn't feel particularly welcome. She refused to allow things between Don and herself continue to be strained. "We called in Edgerton."

"I heard. How come he's not here having a drink with you guys?"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Because he's a borderline psychopath. Do you know him?"

Kim brushed her hair away from her face, a gesture she used as a stall technique when she didn't know what to say. "Yeah, I know Edgerton."

"Everyone has him at Quantico," Don offered.

That wasn't what Kim meant, but it would do. "He's not a psychopath," she said, bluntly.

Charlie shook his head. "You should have seen him. It's like he reveres snipers."

"Sniping is an art," she countered, echoing the words she had heard Edgerton say so many times.

"Murder? That's an art?" Charlie exclaimed. "Forgive me if I can't see the beauty in the senseless ending of human life."

Kim was getting mad. She truly believed that deep down Charlie was a good guy and a decent human being, but he had moments of arrogance. Granted, he certainly had reason to be arrogant when it came to math, but she didn't feel this was his area of expertise. "You sound a little ungrateful considering he saved your life." Charlie looked stunned and Kim decided to drive the nail home. "I find it pretty ironic that a scientist is expounding the sanctity of human life. What about the people of Hiroshima? What were their lives worth?"

"I didn't build the atomic bomb!" Charlie protested. "You can't blame the entire scientific community for something that happened before I was even born!"

"Okay," she said. "That was unfair."

Charlie paused for a moment, regaining his temper. "I never said I didn't appreciate what Edgerton did for me. I just said that he seemed to devalue the lives of the victims."

"So where is he know?" Kim asked. "How come he's not here celebrating with you guys?" Neither brother spoke. "Oh, nice. You're just letting him hang out alone in his hotel room until he flies back to Virginia?"

"This is sort of an Eppes brothers thing," Don said.

Kim assumed that sounded as hollow to him as it did to her. Eppes brothers thing, indeed. She reached into her pocket and felt the piece of paper again. Edgerton had left his hotel information on a voice mail and asked her to call him. Unsure if she was ready to open that can of worms again, she had just jotted it down and shoved the message in her pocket.

"You didn't invite him because you simply don't like him," she explained. "But you've got him all wrong. He's not a psychopath and he doesn't condone murder. If he did, why would he be working for the FBI? Why would he take a job at Quantico training people to stop this sort of thing? He's good at what he does and he loves it. And, believe it or not, he's a good guy."

"You sound like you know him a little better than just having been his student," Charlie mused.

Kim glanced over at Don who had wisely decided to stay completely out of the conversation. He was now looking at her, waiting for an answer.

"We were...involved," she admitted. She tried to gauge Don't reaction.

He sighed. "I'm going to go get another pitcher," he said, climbing over her to get out of the booth. Neither she nor Charlie bothered mentioning that their pitcher was still half full.

"How do you go from someone like Edgerton to someone like Don?" Charlie asked once Don had safely made his escape.

"It was the other way around, actually," Kim said. "And they're not that different."

Charlie leaned back and wiped the condensation from his glass. "I just don't see you with him."

"You don't know anything about me. Or him," she retorted. She didn't give Charlie a chance to reply. "I'm going to leave now so that Don can come back. See you later, Charlie."

Charlie gave a half-hearted wave as she left. Don was watching her from the other side of the room. Kim exited the bar into the cool night air, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed.


	2. Chaper 2

The hotel room door opened. Edgerton stood in the doorway. She drank him in. He was tall with dark skin and hair. His eyes were sharp as razors. They missed nothing.

She remembered back at her bureau academy days, he had been their gun safety instructor. He had given this whole speech about your piece becoming an extension of you and had demonstrated what he meant by assembling his revolver with his eyes closed. Something in that moment had affected Kim deeply. Seeing his face revealing no emotion while his fingers flew, she had developed a crush on her instructor.

She knew her feelings were one-sided. She was just one in a sea of recruits. In their sniping course, when he had taught her how to position her body, she knew that his hands manipulating her hips while he talked softly in her ear did not have quite the same effect on him as it had on her.

And so she had graduated as a matter of course. It wasn't until many years later, when she was stationed in Virginia near Quantico that she saw him again. Her relationship with Don, which had been on life-support for some time, was over. She had stopped absent-mindedly touching her hand to toy with an engagement ring she no longer wore, but she felt the absence of Don every day.

She had gone to a poker game that one agent was holding and was surprised to see her old instructor. Having gone so long without a man's touch, and no longer being saddled with the student/teacher stigma, she had shamelessly invited him back to her place. He had agreed and proceeded to fulfill every academy fantasy she had ever had in one night.

He was exactly how she wanted him to be. Strong, in control, but in tune with what she wanted. Over the next two weeks she saw him every night. She would meet him at the academy on the evenings she just couldn't wait for him to shower and come over. He never complained or refused, no matter how bold her request.

She understood why some people didn't like him. He could get into the mind of a killer. It was more than just an understanding, it was like empathy. He had that in common with Don, the ability to give himself over to the crime, to explore his dark side and then use those insights to catch criminals. It was why both of them were so good at their jobs.

And now, with him standing in front of her, she physically reacted to his presence. Her body tingled, anticipating his touch.

"Hi," he said, and that was as far as she let him get. She entered the room without invitation and threw her arms around his neck. The last thing she wanted to do was talk.

He slid his hands around her slender waist. If there was one part of his body that she missed the most, it was his hands. They represented the brazen masculinity that she associated with him. They were large, strong, calloused, nimble, careful, and knew every inch of her intimately.

They had been together for six months when she had finally been accepted into the Secret Service and transferred to LA. She had rejected the idea of a long-distance relationship before even listening to his opinion on the matter. She preferred a clean break than to watch the steady decline of a relationship like had happened with Don.

Edgerton covered her mouth with his. She could taste Scotch on his breath, although he didn't seem drunk. She wondered if he had been as nervous about their meeting as she had been. It struck a chord with her that she could throw such a confident man off-balance. His lips drifted down, exploring her neck and nibbling on her ears. Kim lost herself in the moment, forgetting all about the two brothers she had left sitting in the bar.


	3. Chapter 3

Kim wasn't asleep, but she pretended she was. The bed was growing cold without his warm body pressed against hers. He had already been up for a while, had showered, and was now packing. Packing to go home.

She rolled onto her back and watched him. She watched as he folded each item before neatly placing it in the bag. She thought about the night before. The way he had unfolded her, discovering her darkest needs and fulfilling them. He had a way with her, an uncommon knowledge of her. More than just her body, when he made love to her, it was to her mind and her soul.

She remembered one night, standing on the balcony to his house dressed in one of his work shirts and nothing else. He was standing behind her, kissing her neck. He had complained she used fruity shampoo and smelling her hair made him hungry. She remembered that night just because she had felt so happy right at that moment. A sense of being where she belonged. And for someone who had been a gypsy her entire career, the feeling was unique and special.

She wanted to tell him she loved him. That she had never stopped loving him. And that she suspected that he never stopped loving her. But she didn't. Love was a word it took a long time for her to use, and an even longer time for him. It was too dangerous. It made things too permanent. It meant that they had responsibilities to one another. Now, with the understanding being that he was going back to Virginia, she was loathe to use it. She couldn't risk spoiling the memory of last night by saying something he was unprepared to hear.

Still, she was confident there was no one else in his life. She didn't believe that when he returned to his apartment, there would be a pretty young thing waiting for him with flowers. There wouldn't be anyone. And that was how he wanted things. He wanted no attachments, no entanglements. His work was dangerous, even by FBI standards, and he didn't want anyone to be devastated by his unavoidable funeral.

He was almost packed. Kim slid out of bed and pulled on her clothes.

"You ready?" he asked, picking up his bags. He was checking out and heading to the airport. There would be no teary goodbye, just the back of his head walking away from her.

She nodded and followed him out. She wondered what it said about a man when he cared about his job more than himself. When he protected strangers with his own life, but left the woman he loved standing alone in the middle of a hotel lobby. And what did it say about her that, no matter how many times it happened, she would fall for him all over again.


End file.
